Dr. Philip Norrie, a Sydney doctor who has been a wine-maker has produced a wine with 100 times the amount of resveratrol used normally in making wines. Resveratrol is the antioxidant credited with giving wine its health giving properties. Found in the grape skins and pips, many studies have shown it reduces the risk of heart disease but usually small quantities are extracted into wine- only 3 to 6 milligrams per liter are found in red wine with white wine has only about one milligram per liter according to a news report.
He says, 'by infusing wine with 100 mg per liter of resveratrol, I have produced practically a vascular pipe-cleaner' , adding, "Not only does this reduce your risk of heart attack, but you can drink less of it to get the same effect."
Resveratrol helps maintain blood flow by keeping the arteries free of the fatty deposits known as atherosclerotic plaque. Since it is an odourless and tasteless substance, the flavour and bouquet of wines are not affected. White wines also have antioxidants although in smaller quantities than red wine.
Over the last three years, Dr Norrie who is an expert on wine and health issues, has patented a method of extracting the anti-oxidant from the skin of red and white grapes and concentrating it before returning it to the wine in the bottling process.
The doctor, who works in Sydney's northern beaches area, says that the Australian wine making tradition is full of practicing medical doctors who made wines as well. Some of its well-known vineyards including Penfolds and Lindemans were founded by medical doctors who accompanied the ships carrying convicts to Britain's new penal colony.
Healthy Chardonnay and Shiraz
The Chardonnay and a Shiraz he produces at his 50-hAs boutique winery have 100mg/L of resveratrol in each bottle, translating to about 100 bottles of normal white wine and 20-30 bottles of red.
"It doesn't affect the taste," he said. "It is entirely neutral in taste, bouquet and colour."
There have been numerous attempts to increase the amount of resveratrol in wine recently, with varying levels of success. But no wine maker has been able to increase to such levels so far.
Dr Norrie is now talking to a couple of Australia's big wine companies like Constellation, Orlando, Penfolds or Fosters to commercialize the venture..
But the good doctor stresses that,' these benefits are best realised with moderate drinking,'. He likes to quote Paracelsus, the 16th-century Swiss physician who said, "Whether wine is a nourishment, medicine or poison, is a matter of dosage."
Positive effects of resveratrol were also confirmed by Dr. David Colquhoun, a senior cardiologist at the University of Queensland. His studies concluded that drinking wine rich in the antioxidant could lessen the risk of heart attack, stroke and cardiovascular disease. Resveratrol is also said to lower blood sugar and ward off cancers, as well as having anti-inflammatory effects, says the report.
|